Archbishop of Yangon tear-gassed (Extra)
By DPA
Sep 27, 2007, 13:33 GMT
Yangon - The Catholic archbishop of Yangon was tear-gassed Thursday
as Myanmar troops dispersed a mob of people outraged at the
regime's mistreatment of Buddhist monks.
Archbishop Charles Bo, his eyes streaming, was forced to flee from
Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon when troops guarding the access road
to the temple fired tear gas on the crowds in an attempt to
disperse them.
'I fear a bloodbath,' Bo told Deustche Presse-Agentur dpa at his
nearby home.
'But the people welcome an escalation of the violence so the
situation will turn into something similar to East Timor, when the
United Nations had to intervene,' the archbishop said.
He added that he had urged his parish to join the protests that
have shook Yangon, Myanmar's former capital, since September
18.
The initially peaceful protests were kicked off by marching monks,
who chanted mantras as they walked the streets to draw government
attention to the county's growing economic woes, exacerbated by a
surprise doubling of fuel prices last month.
After allowing the monks to march for a week, unmolested, Myanmar's
ruling junta cracked down on the movement Wednesday by barricading
the city's two most popular pagodas and beating the monks back with
batons and tear gas.
Security personnel raided Buddhist monasteries before dawn
Thursday, rounding up an estimated 100 monks and leaving one senior
abbot badly beaten.
The crackdown on the Buddhist clergy has outraged many laymen, who
took to the streets Thursday while the monks stayed in their
temples.
Clashes between people and troops were reported throughout the city
Thursday, drawing gunfire and tear gas from the troops that claimed
an unknown number of casualties including two foreigners, believed
to be photo-journalists.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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